Thursday, January 22, 2009

American Capitalism, Boo



Whenever Bryn and I get into a discussion about capitalism, we pretty much always end up on opposite sides. I know that he is very pro-capitalism and I tend to be more cynical about it. But I guess part of the problem seems to be that he is usually talking about how capitalism is intended to work and I'm talking about what is actually happening, which isn't really capitalism at all.

Anyhow, I just ran across a really good article by Eliot Spitzer (yes, THAT Eliot Spitzer, the disgraced ex-governor of New York) on Slate. He talks about GM for instance and how it specifically chose not to act competitively over the past 30+ years, resulting in the current mess that GM is in when it actually has a need to compete with foreign auto companies.

The real problem, according to Spitzer, is that we keep supplying protection from needed changes. And this is something that I would say can apply to a huge corporation or to a single individual.

1 comment:

Snotty McSnotterson said...

I'm with you. Look at where all the capitalism has gotten us, thank you very much (said in my best "mom" voice).